The second episode of Loki season 2 is now streaming on Disney+, and after her return was teased in the premiere, "Breaking Brad" saw the God of Mischief reunite with his female counterpart.
After a bit of persuasion, Hunter B-5, aka Brad Wolfe, reveals that Sylvie had made a life for herself on one of the branching timelines, and is working at a McDonald's in 1987 Broxton, Oklahoma.
Movies/TV shows will often use fictional alternatives to real companies (for obvious reasons), so why did Marvel Studios decide to go with one of the most recognizable eateries in the world?
"We started saying, OK, she’s gonna settle down on a timeline, what restaurant do we use?," director Dan Deleeuw explains to Variety. "At that point, there was a pitch for RoxBurger — you know, the evil corporation in the Marvel Universe, Roxxon. But it didn’t tell a story other than it was like this faux-restaurant."
"And so McDonald’s came up as a suggestion," he continues. "And McDonald’s is timeless, in a way — it crosses countries and borders. Everyone started talking about this nostalgic moment they had with McDonald’s. So quickly getting the audience cued into what Sylvie’s feeling — being on the run so long and seeing normal people, and just wanting to have that and leave everything else behind — we’re using McDonald’s to set the audience in a place where they can pick up on that pretty quickly. That’s what kind of sealed the deal on using McDonald’s.
Of course, there is another reason: McDonald's paid them a boat load of money!
Product placement and promotion is nothing new, but Loki has received some backlash for just how blatantly it "bowed to its sponsor" (to paraphrase Wayne's World) in the latest episode.
In a separate interview with Total Film, Deleeuw addresses the device Sylvie is seen holding towards the end of the episode, which has been confirmed as He Who Remains' time-twisting bangle.
"She's still a Loki. If she's got the keys to the universe, the keys to the multiverse, she's not gonna give that up. I think she truly was happy on the timeline; I don't know how much manipulation has been going on behind the scenes, but... yeah."
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Loki season 2 "promises new excitement as it thrusts the infamous God of Mischief into a new set of adventures with the TVA."
The series stars Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Rafael Casal, Tara Strong, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, Neil Ellice, with Jonathan Majors, Ke Huy Quan and Owen Wilson.
Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Dan Deleeuw and Kasra Farahani will direct all six episodes.
The head writer is Eric Martin. Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kevin R. Wright, Tom Hiddleston, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Eric Martin and Michael Waldron are the executive producers, with Trevor Waterson serving as co-executive producer.